Category: Games

Electronic Arts rolls out The Godfather game
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc. on Tuesday said its highly anticipated, but much delayed, video game based on the popular “Godfather” films is now in U.S. stores, and will debut in Europe on March 24.
The company saw its stock rise by 3.95 percent in early market trading to $54.75.
Last July it pushed back the launch of “The Godfather The Game,” sending its shares lower, when it said the game would not make the crucial Christmas retail delivery window.
The game, created via a licensing relationship with Viacom Inc. affiliates Paramount Pictures and Viacom Consumer Products, is available for Sony Corp.’s. PlayStation 2, Microsoft Corp.’s. Xbox and also for personal computers. It is based on the Mario Puzo book and Paramount Pictures movie and features some of the voices of the original actors.
The Godfather game was developed by EA Redwood Shores which created other game franchises including Lord of the Rings and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

Sony slashes price of PSP
For those of you who are interested in movies on the go, you may be pleased to hear that Sony has just significantly lowered the price of their Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld. The PSP is now officially priced at $199 and given the wealth of movies that are available for the device on UMD discs, this may be a great little gizmo while youíre preparing for spring or summer break. For more info on movies on the PSP, please feel free to visit our UMD Review section as well.
Almost 350 movies are available for the PSP at the time of this writing and although studios have shown signs of pulling out of the segment a little due to a drop in sales there will still be a great many new releases coming out in the future, making PSP one of the most attractive handheld movie viewing devices, and of course, it plays games, too. Some 200 of them at this time

Sony officially delays Playstation 3
News has just surfaced that Sony has indeed delayed the launch of Playstation 3 until November of this year. According to the Japanese newspaper ìNihon Keizai Shimbunî part of the delay is a result of the copy protection specs that have been finalized only very recently and require some additional attention on a multi-purpose platform such as the Playstation 3 as opposed to a straight forward set top player.
Undoubtedly many will now clamor that the BluRay format will severely suffer from this delay but we at DVD Review beg to differ for a few very simple reasons. The Playstation 3 is a gaming console and people buy these to play games primarily, not to watch movies. PS3ís ability to play back BluRay discs will be a nice addition but will not have an immediate impact on the early BluRay market. This early market is primarily driven by early adopters who will shudder at the thought of viewing their movies on a gaming console, especially given how poor PS2ís DVD playback is by comparison to even the cheapest set top players.

Family Guy video game? Giggidy-giggidy-giggidy
(KP International) Tired of having to wait week-in week-out for the adventures of the dysfunctional Griffin family to continue? 2K Games is ending that longing by bringing the characters to your fingertips with “some freakin’ sweet” Family Guy vid games, the first of which is due out this fall.
2K Games, who brought the TV hit “24” to consoles, is collaborating with Seth MacFarlane, the comedic mastermind behind ‘The Family Guy,’ to make the game as hilarious as the cartoon.
“The irreverent and satirical humour from ‘Family Guy’ that has made the show a smash hit opens up exciting and untapped possibilities in game development,” said Christoph Hartmann from 2K Games. “We are looking forward to bringing the colourful ‘Family Guy’ characters to life in a one-of-a-kind action/adventure style game.
‘Family Guy’ debuted in 1999 and ran for three seasons. It was cancelled twice, but the popularity of the animated sitcom grew during reruns and its DVD releases, prompting Fox to bring the show back in 2005.
The voices that bring the zany characters to life include the creator MacFarlane, Mila Kunis from ‘That ’70s Show,’ Alex Borstein from ‘MADtv’ and Seth Green from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Gamers will be able to play as either intellectually-challenged father Peter, malevolent baby genius Stewie, or scathingly witty, martini-slurping talking dog, Brian.

Review: Atari Brings Back Bygone Era
SAN FRANCISCO РSome sobering news for anyone who has recently crested 40: Everything you grew up with is now officially retro. Clothes, music, hair styles ó even video games.
Long before “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” there was “Pong,” a simple video game from Nolan Bushnell and the folks at the original Atari Inc. Two paddles, one ball and no Hot Coffee mod to unlock hidden sex scenes. THAT was gaming.
The Atari brand has traded hands in the years since “Pong” hit the scene, but the new owners are still milking some mileage out of this game and 39 others with Atari Flashback 2. This $30 device offers a fun and affordable glimpse into the gaming’s past √≥ one that, for better and worse, looks nothing like the present.
The console itself looks like a scaled-down version of an old Atari 2600, with faux wood paneling and other dated details. There are no cartridges to plug in, as technology advances have made it easy to stuff all of the games onto a small chip inside. And the controllers are exactly like the Atari 2600 joysticks of yore.
The unit connects to your home television through common audio and video RCA inputs. Many sets have these connections on the front, which is a bonus with this console because I found the cables that come with it a bit short.
Among the 40 titles are classics like “Centipede,” “Asteroids,” “Missile Command,” “Yar’s Revenge” and “Pitfall.” Some are licensed from Activision Inc., which made games for the 2600, but most are original Atari gems.
How do these titles hold up in the face of today’s video games with highly detailed graphics, Dolby Digital sound and online connectivity? As well as could be expected of large primary-colored blocks jumping around the screen.
But there is magic in the way those blocks moved. Hours of magic.
Games like “Missile Command” have the type of player interaction that remains viable in plot and movement. My mind was thrust back decades as I began to protect the cities closest to my ammunition bunker, keeping an eye peeled for smart bombs, those little blinking diamonds that fell from the sky and tried to evade my explosions.
And “Millipede,” a sequel to the popular “Centipede” title, was a blast. I was racking up extra lives on only my second attempt as I weaved past that infernal spider that crept from the corners seeking to squash me.
The action games held up well, but adventure games like “Haunted House” and “Wizard” were mostly duds and offered little real suspense.
Seriously. How scary can a blinking green square be anyway?
The sounds produced by these games are rudimentary at best. Even my cell phone makes more intricate tones.
Nonetheless, lots of people simply refuse to let go of retro-gaming.
Consider that many who long for old quarter-gobbling arcade games like “Joust,” “Defender” and “Crystal Castle” have gravitated to free software called MAME, short for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. MAME can run the original ROMs from hundreds of arcade game machines. And those ROMs are also readily available online.
The legality of using MAME to play ROMs you don’t actually own is up for debate. But an enthusiastic online community is keeping the old titles alive, and there’s no debating the lure of a pixelated pastime that helped define a generation.
Atari has done a nice job of legally giving us another look at these early games, long after the consoles themselves have been relegated to the dust bin.

Ghost-Wary, Dot-Eating Pac-Man Turns 25
For a video game, Pac-Man is getting downright old. The ghost-wary hero with an insatiable appetite for dots turns 25 this month.
From the early 1980s “Pac-Mania” to today’s endless sequels and rip-offs, the original master of maze management remains a bright yellow circle on the cultural radar.
But there was more to Pac-Man’s broad appeal than eating dots and dodging on-screen archrivals Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde.
“This was the first time a player took on a persona in the game. Instead of controlling inanimate objects like tanks, paddles and missile bases, players now controlled a `living’ creature,” says Leonard Herman, author of “Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Videogames.” “It was something that people could identify, like a hero.”
It all began in Japan, when Toru Iwatani, a young designer at Namco, caught inspiration from a pizza that was missing a slice. Puck-Man, as it was originally called, was born. Because of obvious similarities to a certain four-letter profanity, “Puck” became “Pac” when it debuted in the U.S. in 1980.
Its success spawned a romantic interest (Ms. Pac-Man), a child (Junior Pac-Man), a cartoon show and hundreds of licensed products. The phenomenon even reached the pop music charts when “Pac-Man Fever” by Buckner & Garcia drove us all crazy in 1982.
Billy Mitchell, the first and only person known to play a perfect game of Pac-Man (he racked up a score of 3,333,360 after clearing all 256 levels in more than six hours in 1999, according to video game record keepers Twin Galaxies) says Pac’s popularity was in its nonviolent simplicity.
“The fact that it’s cute, it’s almost like a hero running around the board from bad guys. It’s not an appeal based on violence,” the 39-year-old from Hollywood, Fla., said. “Whether it was an 80-year-old lady or a kid, everyone could adapt to the Pac-Man world.”
Billions of quarters later, Pac-Man’s influence continues.
As part of a final project for a class in New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications graduate program last year, students with cell phones and Wi-Fi Internet connections mimicked the game, tracking their movements on a grid spanning several city blocks.
They called this analog re-enactment, where four people dressed as ghosts searched for Pac-Man on the streets around New York’s Washington Square Park, Pac-Manhattan.
“We never had anyone clear the entire board,” said Frank Lantz, a game designer who taught the course.
Namco, which can’t offer an exact date for Pac-Man’s birth, sold 293,822 of the arcade machines between 1980 and ’87. It shows no signs of giving up on the franchise.
The company has several new games this year, including “Pac-Mania 3D,” “Pac-Man World 3,” Pac-Pix” and “Pac-Man Pinball.” It even began making a special 25th anniversary edition of the old arcade machine.
“People say, `Who buys Pac-Man?’ It’s one of the few games where the answer is, `Everyone,'” said Scott Rubin, general manager of Namco America.
Herman said Pac-Man’s place in video game history is forever secure, saying: “It was a milestone of video game history.”

Nintendo Joins Battle of New Game Systems
LOS ANGELES РLet the battle for the digital den begin ó again. Nintendo Co. on Tuesday was the last of the three major video game console makers to preview its next-generation system, called Revolution. The Japanese company had a tiny surprise, too.
Revolution will face stiff competition from Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 as the manufacturers vie to attract a more diverse audience with products that serve as digital entertainment hubs instead of just serving up video games.
After years of promoting their existing consoles with big-budget games, the three companies touted sleek new technology this week on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, an annual industry meeting that begins Wednesday.
The ability to play older games was addressed by all three makers, with backward compatibility meaning owners of the new systems will be able to play games created for the existing Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2.
Nintendo went a step further, announcing Tuesday to applause and cheers that Revolution’s built-in wireless Internet will provide downloadable access to the thousands of games in company’s 20-year-old library, going back to the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president, did not provide many details on the Revolution but he showed an enthusiastic audience a black prototype box with a blue, front-loading disc drive as well as a picture of several possible color schemes, ranging from silver to bright yellow.
He said the final box will be about the size of a stack of three DVD cases.
Details on Revolution’s high-tech innards were less specific than what is being provided by Microsoft and Sony.
Aside from the included Wi-Fi networking, the Revolution will have wireless controllers, two USB 2.0 ports and slots for DS memory cards. Nintendo did not say anything about the processor or graphics chips that will be used to power the machine, other than that they are being developed by IBM Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc.
“This is the console where the big idea can prevail over big budgets,” Iwata said.
With Xbox 360 and PS3, meanwhile, snazzy technology able to deliver cinema-quality graphics and sound has been the center attraction.
Xbox 360 will have three speedy processors and custom graphics chip from ATI, a removable 20-gigabyte hard drive and wireless capability for cable-free access to the company’s Xbox Live online multiplayer service.
And while Xbox 360 can play movies, music and television, it won’t replace the desktop computer as an ideal nerve center for such content, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. The company on Tuesday announced an extender for its Media Center operating system that allows users to stream media from the desktop onto their Xbox 360.
“We think the PC is the best hub for that,” he said. He later added, “It’s the most general purpose of the devices.”
PS3 is to boast Cell processors, jointly developed by Sony with IBM and Toshiba Corp., that are purportedly 10 times faster than current generation computer processors.
But beyond all the techno-lingo, important details for consumers √≥ including price and game costs √≥ still haven’t been announced. The Xbox 360 will be the first to market, due around Thanksgiving, followed by the PS3 next spring and the Revolution sometime next year.
“They are all pursing strategies that really play to their own strengths,” said P.J. McNealy, a senior analyst at American Technology Research. “At this point it is primarily marketing and position, that’s the main goal here.”
In 2004, the PlayStation 2 led the U.S. console wars with 43 percent of the market, according to Jupiter Research. The original Xbox was a distant No. 2 with 19 percent, followed by Nintendo’s GameCube at 14 percent. The remainder included handheld game systems.
Jonathan Epstein, a video game agent for United Talent Agency, said the rise of broadband Internet and more processing power has fueled these new consoles’ ability to move beyond games alone. And that could help grow the market for games beyond the traditional young male audience.
Nintendo’s surprise announcement was a tiny redesigned Game Boy Advance called Micro, available this fall for an undisclosed price. The silver device, about the size of an iPod Mini, is a redesign and doesn’t offer any new technology, officials said.
“This is just another kind of edgy element that we’re adding to the mix,” Nintendo of America spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan said.
New types of interactivity were the main thrust of Nintendo’s hopes to broaden the $10 billion U.S. game market.
“Electroplankton” for Nintendo’s DS handheld lets gamers manipulate fish and other sea creatures to create rhythmic sound effects and music. “Nintendogs,” already available in Japan, employs the DS’ microphone as you shout orders to get your digital pup to do tricks like sit and roll over.

Sony Unveils New PlayStation 3 Consoles
LOS ANGELES – Sony Corp. unveiled three flavors of its new PlayStation 3 video game machine Monday in what is likely a new round of console wars with rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co.
The new machine, set for release in the spring of 2006, is about the same size as the current generation PlayStation 2 but has a more rounded look. Besides black, the PS3 will be available in silver and white.
Sony officials said the PS3’s new processor technology √≥ called Cell √≥ will offer high performance for movie-like realism in games, high-definition movies and other features.
“The PS3 is truly is a system to be placed in the center of the living room,” said Ken Kutaragi, creator of the original PlayStation console as well as the more recent PlayStation Portable handheld.
Prices or a specific lineup of games that will be available were not were not provided, though Sony showed off numerous demonstrations of games in development.
The PS3 will use the Blu-ray disc format, capable of holding 50 gigabytes of information, which is about six times the capacity of existing DVDs, as well as slots for memory cards, a detachable hard drive and Bluetooth wireless for up to seven wireless controllers.
The PS3 also will be able to run the thousands of games available for the older PS2 and PS1, officials said.
One demonstration PS3 game showed a fiery battle between a soldier and a robot in an intricately detailed futuristic city. Individual tattoos and bits of blood could be seen on the warrior’s face, while shafts of light beamed down from the rafters of a metallic corridor.
The announcement comes two days ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, an annual industry gathering in Los Angeles.
Last week, Microsoft showcased its new Xbox 360 in a 30-minute special on MTV.
Microsoft said it would begin selling Xbox 360 in North America around Thanksgiving, and Europe and Asia by the end of the year.
No pricing details have been announced on any of the systems.
Nintendo will discuss its new console, code-named Revolution, further on Tuesday morning.
In 2004, Sony’s older PlayStation 2 led the U.S. console wars with 43 percent of the market, according to Jupiter Research. The original Xbox was a distant No. 2 with 19 percent, followed by Nintendo’s GameCube at 14 percent. The remainder included handheld game systems.
But by 2010, Xbox 360 would grab the lead with 38 percent of the market, followed by Sony with 32 percent and Nintendo with 22 percent, Jupiter forecasts.
Microsoft is taking an entertainment hub approach with Xbox 360.
The curvy, white machine plays DVD movies and lets users listen to music, view photos and do real-time video chats with friends and relatives around the world.
The Xbox 360 features three processors, a removable 20-gigabyte hard drive, a custom graphics chip and built-in wireless for cable-free access to the company’s Xbox Live online multiplayer service.

Microsoft to Unveil Next Xbox on MTV May 12
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp. on Monday said it would unveil the next generation of its Xbox video game console in a May 12 special on music and entertainment cable channel MTV.
The unveiling will be a first, as video game companies usually take the wraps off their new consoles at exclusive industry events like the trade show E3 — which will be held the following week in Los Angeles.
“I think we need to signal a change that things aren’t going to be the same in the next generation,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president in the Xbox division, in an interview. “While it’s gaming at its core, there’s a much bigger and broader entertainment message that we need to get out there.”
Microsoft said the special would also air in Japan the morning of May 13 and across Europe that evening.
The special will include footage of next-generation Xbox games and also online play, Microsoft said. Actor Elijah Wood will host the show, with local hosts for each country.
The company has not set a release date for the Xbox successor or even announced a name, but the new hardware is expected to be released later this year.
Market leader Sony Corp. has said little about the timetable for its next-generation PlayStation console, but there is speculation it will offer details at E3 next month.
Last week Sony advised it would hold its E3 press conference a few hours before Microsoft’s, a break with tradition that some saw as a sign Sony wanted to steal Microsoft’s anticipated thunder.
Moore said Microsoft has been planning the MTV launch since last year and only found out about the Sony schedule change last week.
Moore said the show will be “live to tape,” meaning it will be filmed as though it were a live event, and edited later to add celebrity interviews and the like.

Sony’s PSP Selling Well But Not Sold Out – Analyst
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sony Corp.’s new handheld video game unit, the PlayStation Portable, is selling well but is far from sold out at stores nationwide, an analyst said on Thursday.
One week after the $249 PSP package was launched in the United States, American Technology Research found that only 50 of 150 stores surveyed nationally in the last two days were sold out. Another 15 stores had three or fewer units left.
Sony pushed hard to have as many as 1 million units available for the U.S. launch, postponing the device’s European debut indefinitely so it could have enough hardware to meet that U.S. goal. Supplies have been thin in Japan as well, where the PSP debuted in a frenzy late last year.
The PSP, which also plays movies and music in addition to games, is Sony’s first entry into handheld gaming, a market controlled since 1989 by Nintendo Co. Ltd. . Nintendo’s established Game Boy Advance SP sells for $79, and its new dual-screened DS sells for $149.
Analyst P.J. McNealy said the specialty gaming retailers have already sold through two waves of hardware, but “big-box” retailers like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. got more units than expected at launch and have inventory remaining.
McNealy estimated the PSP sold as many as 575,000 units in its first week, with up to 300,000 left in the inventory channel.
“The PlayStation Portable (PSP) has been solid but not spectacular. We believe that the PSP launch, while not the blow-out event expected, will be considered successful as retailers continue to sell through existing inventory levels,” McNealy said in a note.
With sales of console games slowing as manufacturers prepare for the next generation of game hardware, the industry is counting on the handheld market to pick up much of the sales slack in calendar 2005. Most analysts expect U.S. software sales growth to be flat to up 5 percent this year.